wong989

To be fair we were willing to pay 60m for Geuhi last window, take pace out of the equation and Van Hecke is a much, much better player

Feel like Staveley was the glue. I like the idea of having a DOF, especially one with a track record of buying the JP's, Hjuisens, Caceidos before they've been coached and showcased in a premier league team. Shame whoever pushed Staveley out won that battle. The way Mitchell came in was so antagonistic and unprofessional. Can't imagine anyone coming in saying that, but to do so he'd have to have been told Eddie's going to be gone soon and we'll have total decision making power. Could have been a great thing. Our signings have very good, but to compete now, we need a good few Caceido type signings. I'll never understand why we spent all last summer on Guehi when other teams signed better defenders for less than half.

Signing Brighton's scouting and recruitment staff would be the best Brighton signing. Van Hecke is absolute class, he's like a more physical version of Schar, seems more solid defensively as well. But, to be spending that much on a center back we need one with pace, and he doesn't have it.

If our recruitment was as efficient as the best in field there'd always be a silver lining. Seems as though the Executive level hasn't been functioning well for a while. The Staveley situation, we get Ashworth in. I assumed the idea was Ashworth was going to set up the system outside first team management. Scouting, analysis, youth level coaching, have it all streamlined as working towards making the squad as strong as possible and as cost effective as possible to make sure PSR is as little a hinderance as possible. What the hell happened at the top these last few years.

Haven’t watched loads of Leao but was never sold on him as an elite player. Never looks like having the consistency. Strikes me as a Manure type signing

He was my favourite player and I think our most important player in 23/24, its the seeming drop in commitment and the terrible body language which happened to coincide with talk of a move to Liverpool. He completely won me over, I didn't dislike him, liked his fight, just didnt think he was all that good. He hasn't seemed happy to be here this year, like he wished he got a move and it seems like its on his mind. Would love to see him committed again, not many like him when he is. Drags the team with him by force of will when he wants it.

No, I'm generalizing. He'd have improved most top clubs in England last year had he been sold in the summer. Either way, I'm talking about the idea of signing a player with potential for a relatively low fee, who after time to adapt to our system and improve certain aspects can play a role in our team and becomes good enough to start for ESL sides a la Caceido, Mane, Wijnaldum, Mahrez, not to mention all the ESL cast offs like Rice, Palmer, Rogers etc

Its a shame that situation. Felt like after the previous season he was a 100m player. Grealish Rice, you couldn't say he wasn't as influential and dicisive, same age, English...but after this season, thats taken a hit. Hope he pulls it together if Wirtz joins Liverpool, hasn't looked settled or happy this year at all to me

The disgust I have for them making CL is nearly as bad as if we hadn't qualified. Then again, it would have made no difference, their holding company would just buy the tealady for 200 million

I'd be happy to scout, sign and develop players at the rate Brighton do. We wouldn't need to sell unless we wanted to. Only way we get around PSR is finding potential and making stars regularly

Like Chalobah, versatile as well

This is the problem. Even if we did sign those 4 players, hamstringing ourselves in future windows, how much better is our team? Considering our revenue and PSR, we need a scouting system as good as operations like Monaco, Red Bull, Brighton, Brentford etc. 50-60mil signings for players who don't immediately make us much stronger is nuts. Realistically we need- a first team RW, a first team ready 8/10 that offers attacking technique, pace and link up with Bruno/Tonali for those games where we endlessly turn the ball over and have no threat from the middle a fast center back a forward good enough to replace Isak, maybe with some different qualities Also- Goalie with more composure, better passing, who can replace Pope either now or later. -Midfield depth, could do with a mix of an established, decent physical player happy with squad role and young talent who can in time fill in for Bruno or Tonali Lastly- youth with the potential to be first 11 eventually. Malanga/Pedro aren't top tier players. We don't cement our place unless we get those types young, coach them and they fill our squad in future. I'd like us to fill our squad out with as much value as possible and keep the big money for lads who absolutely justify it, Isak, Bruno, Gordons, lads that Madrid, City would spend an arm and a leg because they'd improve that 11.

Wonder if it was made clear to us Cunha was never coming, or if we had interest. The difference between Cunha at 60 and Pedro at 50ish is huge. Obviously Cunha has the possibilty of making 350k eventually at Manure I spose. To consistently compete at the top end we're going to have to have the best scouting and be able to bring in the Pedros, Caceidos Elanga's before they cost 50-70 mil. 60-70 at this stage has to make the team immediately much, much stronger. Think it was a massive failure last summer to focus on Guehi when everyone knew about Milenkovic, he was about as risk free as you could get, and a tough lad, seems great for a dressing room. I'd be interested to see how many CB's nearly, as good or better than Guehi were available/transferred (other than to ESL/PRS problem free clubs for much less last summer.

Lots of games we needed someone more technical in the final third than Joelinton, Miley hasn't shown he's the man to do it, he needs to if he's to stay. Otherwise I'd rather we loaned him, let him have a season at a smaller club to get in the team and be the focal point of their midfield. If he can get that confidence he clearly has some very useful qualities.

I'm not as concerned with not having things done immediately, more that Bournemouth and Forest both signed center backs better than Guehi for fractions of what we were willing to bid. In the PSR age the only way we get to the top tier and stay there is consistently finding value, saving big money for transformational signings like Isak, Tonali etc. I really hope Howe sees we need the option of a quick technician in midfield, it absolutely killed us in a few matches. Was delighted when Mitchell came til he opened his fat mouth. A compromise between sure thing big money and youth is what we need, and Mitchell had a good record for consistently finding value

That'd be class, especially for anything in the region of 30-40 mil... but his wages will become an auction

It’s a pretty big deal from what I remember, although seems like these type of things die down with each passing generation. Some itk said transfer to Barca, loan back to espanyol for the season which is beyond mental.

Like the Spaniards love to say, ‘we’ve 20 Diblings you’ve never heard of’… Dibling looks a real talent, but we’d be buying a very raw player, for 50 mil. If there were no psr constraints it’s the type of signing I’d dream of, but for now our signings need to be based around what cost us points this year and will draw losses and win draws next year and at the lowest possible price, because we’re thin and overachieved this year.

Talented but always struck me as a knob, Mbappe vibes…think Bayern would have won 1 or 2 more European Cups had they sold and replaced him and Coman with younger, grittier players.

Im hoping Eddie isn’t locked into one style, we definitely need a technician around the 8/10 or RW area. We were piss poor in terms of attacking fluidity against weak team many times this year. Willock isn’t it, an upgrade on his position would be exciting. I’d hope we improve in transition, when it’s on we should be taking advantage. We need more goals from sources other than forcing mistakes.

This is what worries me. As much as Mitchell acted the dickhead with how he handled things he was right about being cost effective. Guehi is a mental signing. He's a decent center back and we almost paid 60 mil for him. Theres a million center backs who'd have within 5% of his impact for half the price or less. Teams around us have signed better for far less. Why would we keep Willock. If he got back to peak form he's still an injury prone player without the technical ability to bring us up a level. A RW, a CB, and 8/10, and a versatile forward are needed. Young squad players would be good. For that we'd want to be finding the absolute best value and reserving the 50-70 mil fee for a player who is going to be indispensable and near guarantee an extra 3-5 losses into draws/draws into wins. Right now Mbuemo is the only player it seems justified on. And those lads you mentioned need to upgraded if possible, downgrades off the bench when we need changes.

Exactly what I saw happening weeks ago. Our only regular attacking threat is our high press. Shambolic team passing, for years now. Nothing got to do with Joelinton being out, he makes it worse if anything, how he played as a forward is beyond belief. Gordon must go, went from talisman to sulking liability after whatever happened with the Liverpool offer. Hope to Christ Mitchell has a long list of youngsters because we need far more technical quality. And how, when we needed center backs, did we not go for Milenkovic. I can understand missing Hjuisen, I never heard of him. Milenkovic has been a solid defender for a very long time. Sick of the constant unforced errors in possession. Club Brugge will shit kick us in Champions League on recent performances if they are smart enough to not play from the back. Go long you nullify 90% of our threat.

Badly needed.

We've had months to sort this out, so many games we were shocking, the 3-0 win against Leicester being a good example. We score only when we press the opposition into mistakes, occasionally from great individual play off the left, and very rarely from some good passing in the final third involving Sandro/Bruno/Trips/Murph. Counter is shocking, and our passing game goes to shite under any pressure, and often without pressure. The signs have been there for ages that when the chips were down we'd start misplacing 10 yard passes and just turning the ball over under no pressure. Thats why this game worried me far more than Arsenal.

Don't know anything about him other than his highlights, but we're being linked with Martin Baturina, a Croatian attacking midfielder rated around 20-25mil. Love that we're being linked wiith this kind of signing. Really hope we are able to pick up a more technical midfielder as well.